


Wonderful story, Michael! He sounds like an amazing person! Thank you for sharing!

by _anyder (sodas)



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Child's Perspective, Post-Canon, Post-Series, intentional typos, unusual formatting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 01:16:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19096762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodas/pseuds/_anyder
Summary: Redacted means removed. It means you're taking something out of your writing. Usually that's because it's a secret. When my Dad told me my hero had to be all those, I wanted to cry for him.





	Wonderful story, Michael! He sounds like an amazing person! Thank you for sharing!

Michael Lobo  
Mrs. Gillespie's 4th grade class  
Social Studies

"My Hero, Redacted"

My hero is redacted. I learned this word from my Dad who writes for the News. My Mom writes News, too but she told me a lot of other words about my hero, redacted. Some of them I can't write down because they're bad words. My Mom didn't say words like that about redacted because she's a bad person. Or, because she didn't like redacted. Redacted was everyone's hero that I know who got to meet him. But my Mom said that stuff because she says those kind of words when she's trying not to cry. She was sad when she talked about him.

Then my Dad told me that if I was going to write about him for my report about my hero, I couldn't write his name. Then my Dad told me about redacted and it's definition. Redacted means removed. It means you're taking something out of your writing. Usually that's because it's a secret. When my Dad told me my hero had to be all those, I wanted to cry for him. No wonder, my Mom said her bad words.

I had to ask a lot of questions about redacted to get information for this report. My Dad wouldn't tell me all of it. But here is what I learned.

My hero grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He was raised by his older brother who took care of him and loved him very much. His Mom loved him very much, too but she couldn't be with him. My Dad said it's very hard when a Mom or Dad can't be with their child but, she must have thought about him all the time, my Dad said quietly. He said it like he knew for sure. Because him and my Mom weren't always together so, we couldn't be together either. But he said he always thought about me and Mom. So, I think my Dad is right and, redacted's Mom thinks about him all the time now, too. Me, too.

Something else I learned is, redacted lived a hard and tough life. You could read about him in the library or in a book you read in school. That's what it felt like. My Mom said, who isn't living a hard life? She was frowning. Then, she was crying. She said one of those words, and, she said, he was just a kid. So, my Dad told me something about the hard stuff, but I can tell my Mom and my Dad didn't talk about all of it.

So, another thing I have to say is, redacted passed away. When my Dad told me that I asked how. My Dad didn't say a lot but he hugged me a lot. He just said, redacted is layed to rest. It sounded like redacted didn't get to rest a lot before that. I thought it might mean he got sick. But, redacted never seemed sick to me. He seemed really, very strong. Not like a superhero. But, like the real kind of heros.

If he wasn't like a superhero, I bet you're wondering why he's my hero. I only met him a few times. And he wasn't a policeman. Or a fireman. Or in the army. Like you hear about a lot of heros. He wasn't even all the way grown up. And he didn't like my Mom or my Dad a lot when we all saw each other the first time. I think he was like a hurt wolf who didn't like hunters.

But, the reason why redacted is my hero is because, I saw the scariest thing I ever saw when I was little. Someone hurt my Mom and scared us. And my Dad saved us. But redacted did a thing they don't tell you heros do. He helped me know it would be OK. Me and my Mom. Even though my Dad was the hero who saved us, he was scary. Redacted was the hero who helped me be less afraid. He hugged me like a hero. And he was really tough and cool. But he didn't scare me.

I wrote about redacted for my report because, even if I can't write who he is, and, even if he's layed to rest, I don't want him to be redacted. It means removed and taken out. He can't be, though since I learned the hero's hug from him. And we went to his funeral. Not a lot of people did. I wasn't a baby but, that made me cry. Then, redacted's friend saw me crying. He was also crying. Then, he hugged me. It was the same hug. I tried to do it that same way, too for him and when my Mom is sad I do it just like that, too. So I think, he's layed to rest but he isn't taken out. I'm not writing his name but now you know who he is. My hero.


End file.
